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A third helping of alphabet soup
More awesomely bad acronyms from FP readers:
Tiago Dias:
May I suggest the Spanish GRAPO (Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre)? It sounds like a fruit (obviously), but also reminds me of Grappa, the Italian hard liquor.
Joe Geni:
I nominate JUSCANZ, pronounced "juice cans", and stands for Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I am not making this up. I'm a reporter at the UN and I've heard it used here repeatedly.
Demian Smith:
MOOTW: Military Operations Other than War
John Carrick, once again:
DFAT, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is pertinent and poetically evocative. Trade commissioners create the surplus to import de fat. Diplomats deploy their skills as they chew de fat.
Jed Odermatt:
I always thought that RAPEX, the EU rapid alert system for all dangerous consumer products, was a name that was not fully thought through.
John Halperin:
The bus system in Kinshasa is aptly named:
Societe de transport urbain du Congo (STUC)
There were several nominations for SLORC, (State Law and Order Restoration Council) as Burma's military regime used to be known. I actually think that's an appropriately unpleasant name for a very unpleasant group of people.
Keep 'em coming. (Let me know if you don't want your name posted on the blog.)













S.L.U.T
How come no one has pointed out Seattle's own SLUT?
The South Lake Union Trolley has inspired hundreds of t-shirts suggesting you "ride the SLUT."
SOLIC, NEPA and NYSC
SOLIC always seemed more suggestive than the "Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict" phrase it abbreviates.
They're not especially funny acronyms themselves, but Nigerians have an unmatched talent in twisting the shortened names of state-run organizations: NEPA, the National Electric Power Authority, is known on the street as "Never Expect Power Always" given the frequency and length of power outages. NYSC, the National Youth Service Corps, is known as "Now Your Suffering Continues."